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Neito wakes up in Hell.
He watches everything around him burn to the ground. Fires impossibly tall, blocking everything out around him. Civilians he swore to protect are maimed and killed by reanimated Nomu's, having fulfilled their original purpose of their creator and now just do it for his sick amusement. He watches as his own friends and all of U.A are tortured in assembly lines, Quirks either stolen and either returned back out into anarchy, or are offed for the sake of it. Those who survive are mutilated into Nomu themselves, turned into something beyond human.
The holes in his palms itch. Neito looks down and sees their blood on his own hands. Garaki is nowhere to be found, except the bloodied, broken goggles floating on the cold, black water beneath him.
All For One is standing in front of him, and for once, he isn’t smiling.
Through the broken, mangled, caustic scars covering the upper half of his face, are so many emotions it overwhelms Neito to the point of uncontrollable shaking. His frown is pulled back violently, lips and jaw parted in what could only be assumed to be silenced horror, his towering and imperious frame somehow more akin to a tree scarred by the horrors of humanity and left to bare witness.
That, somehow, in front of a 200 year tyrant, Neito was the monster here.
When he speaks, it isn’t the loud, reverberating command that impulsively made anyone obey;
It was a silent, raspy, disbelieving plea, of an old man who’s witnessed his village be burned to the ground by the tides of war.
“What have you done?”
–
There’s an itch inside of Neito’s heart.
Spiders crawl alongside his organs, he can feel through the numbness around him floating. Chromatic aberrations float through his vision behind his eyelids as he tries getting his bearing. No coherent thought reaches him, except just confusion beginning to ebb away at him, and the itch continuing to prosper.
None of his limbs respond, and briefly, he thinks he’s ended up with All For One’s doctor. Surprisingly, panic doesn’t fill him. If anything, it’s… Relief. It’s almost disgusting, tingling at the back of his throat, that Neito would even think that, but the only other person left on this Earth who knew enough about this Quirk to control it is him.
Neito’s vision comes back in a dull gradient, gradually ascending into color as the sterile white of a dropout ceiling becomes apparent. A soft beeping of a heart monitor makes his ears suddenly start throbbing as it gets louder and louder, and suddenly the white of the ceiling is too bright as he gains full vision back. None of his limbs respond at all.
Quiet, small footsteps are heard, before they pause and something drops to the floor with a clatter. Someone shouts and several people run over. Neito blinks up hazily to see bright pink hair over him, and suddenly something in his chest lurches violently. The crawling sensation turns into pressure, and he can almost feel his muscles begin constricting from the cramping along his back.
His vision focuses more, and he sees two bright pink irises staring down worriedly at him as the nurse continues to work on something out of his vision.
“Shh, it’s okay,” She comforts softly. “You’re in Shizuoka General Hospital right now.” Neito continues blinking, staring slowly as he feels his breathing tube be adjusted, and something inside him latches onto it and yanks it, making him choke. The nurse grimaces before gently pulling it back and fixating it properly.
A beat passes for a moment as another doctor, a very large man with goat horns, pale white skin, and pitch black hair, shines a light in his eyes. Neito gets blinded, and he sees the faces of people he’s never met dance across his vision until the afterimage fades.
“Your friend found you bleeding out in your bed… Just in time.” She exhales wearily, concern and anxiety filling her gaze. “We’ve had to put you on heavy medication for the pain, as well as to control your Quirk so we can know what we’re dealing with. It will be over soon, I promise,” She- ‘Nurse Joy,’ Neito can barely read her nametag- reassures softly, before stepping away.
At this point, Neito can feel the restraints around his arms and legs in a gentle pressure. He can feel his-... something- ‘Quirk?’- there’s a sensation of growling at the thought of being restrained, but nothing comes. He tugs lightly to adjust his arm, and he hears the metal groan from the strain of being pulled.
It makes him pause just hearing it as his mind begins catching up slowly. He’s starting to remember, like ice settling in the back of his head and heart, what transpired directly before this.
‘They deserved a clean corpse, at the very least.’
‘He looked at his veins.
He breathed a sigh of relief.
His last.’
Something akin to a live wire touches his skin, and all of Neito’s nerves are on fire at once. His breathing hitches, clamping down on the breathing tube. Whatever happens next is a complete blur as he lays there, chest pulsating in agony and head starting to pound with his heartbeat. Eventually, his limbs regain their feeling, sluggish and tingly like they’ve been frostbitten, but they vaguely respond to his inputs.
Nurse Joy and another assistant slid the breathing tube out of his throat eventually. Neito chokes, gasping for air as it leaves, blood following it on the way out. He rasps a heavy inhale, controlling his breathing as he shakes. He doesn’t miss the look of worry and genuine sorrow on Nurse Joy’s face.
All Neito can think is ‘She knows.’
All For One itches.
It knows, too.
–
“You have a visitor!” Nurse Joy chirps softly. Neito blinks, eyes focusing. There’s a gentle smile on her face, but clear apprehension and concern in her face, like she hopes she’s making the right decision. Neito just cocks his head to the side, face still blank, until the door creaks open.
“Hey,”
Neito’s eyes widen when he sees Kuroiro stalk in slowly.
Whatever usual mysterious and brooding theatrics Kuroiro usually had were nowhere to be found. All Neito saw was genuine dread and anxiety, like the boy is only seconds away from collapsing and vomiting out of fear. There was a deep, consuming, void-like aura around him that Neito could see, thicker at the edges and fading away around the center of his body. It lazily whipped around like smoke, parting when Kuroiro tugged his jacket off, and hung it up in the corner as he outstretched his hand.
Neito keeps staring, throat tightening even more, and chest becoming so, so horribly heavy and empty at the same time when he realizes what it was.
It was Kuroiro’s Quirk.
Neito could see it.
And so could All For One.
The itching turns into burning, and Neito’s vision goes blurry.
There’s a loud buzzer-like alarm as he falls sideways, and all he can see is Nurse Joy’s blurry figure sprinting over, hazy shouts in his ears as his chest suddenly becomes completely numb.
Neito goes under feeling like it was his fault.
–
Kuroiro was the one who found him, Neito learns eventually.
Nurse Joy tells him. She’s the only one who can stick around him for long without All For One starting to activate itself like instinct, and even then, that wasn’t always a guarantee, because Nurse Joy had a Quirk, and that desperate tug and burn inside Neito’s chest kept telling him silently to steal it.
They build his tolerance by exposing him to other nurses and doctors. The doctor assigned to his case: A giant figure of a man, with pure white skin, pitch black hair, a smile and eyes far too kind for someone like Neito, and goat-like heteromorph traits- is another safe person. Neito doesn’t know why, and neither do the others, but it works for now.
A few days go by, and Nurse Joy tells him something that fills him with dread:
“Hound Dog will be visiting in a few days,” She informs softly as she replaces his IV bag. “He wants to talk with you: About counseling and helping you get through this…” Nurse Joy trails off, a soft frown pulling at her face, and Neito’s stare lingers longer than it should have.
She wasn’t necessarily scared of him- Neito knew what that looked like growing up- It was… Concern. About what would happen to him when was facing something that would most likely kill.
And… Neito didn’t know what to make of that.
–
Surprisingly, All For One doesn’t lash out immediately when Hound Dog steps in.
His hulking figure squeezes gently through the doorframe, even when it was built to accommodate people whose Quirks changed their size and appearance. His normally loud, thundering footfalls were soft and quiet, breathing gently and calmly as he sits in a chair far, far too small for someone his size.
“Hello,” he bows, voice rumbling in a way that makes Neito’s spine tingles. “It’s been quite a minute.”
Neito stays silent.
“I’ve… Been informed about what transpired, earlier this year,” He pauses to give Neito enough time to catch up. Neito just blinks; ‘Has it really been that long? How long have I been out???’ “What happened, wasn’t your fault Neito.” Hound Dog pauses again, waiting to see Neito’s response; if he would scoff at the notion or break down. Not once does Neito react, he just blinks up at the massive man in front of him. “You should’ve never been in that situation… One way or another, we will figure out how you can get through this. I promise.”
Neito doesn’t believe him. At all.
–
‘Neito wakes up to a festival of lanterns over his head.
Only, they weren’t lanterns.
The closer he looks, there’s people inside the lights.
He walks through bone-chillingly cold black water, staring up at the vibrant array above him. Neito gets reminded of all the festivals his parents would take him to, at the beginning of the night when they would light the lanterns and set them loose over the bay.
Eventually, he finds one he does recognize.
It’s Ragdoll.
Or, at least, it looks like her.
Whatever ghostly form makes up her silhouette- still in a tattered and singed hero costume- is in a bright teal aura, pulsating and shining bright like a searchlight.
Neito’s fingers brush against it, feeling like he just ran his hand through gentle, warm, flowing water, and he pulls his hand away to see it painted seafoam green-’
Neito doesn’t remember waking up after that.
Only getting plunged into another fever dream.
When he does wake up, his hand is in a cast.
–
He’s scared of falling asleep now.
–
‘Neito wakes up on concrete this time. There’s smoke swirling all around.
Briefly, he thinks this is another nightmare where everything burns to the ground in a wildfire. That he’ll have to watch Kuroiro’s shadow vaporise into nothing, or Itsuka run in busting doors down to save people only to never come out again. He resigns himself to laying on the ground.
“Hey! You’re awake!”
Neito bolts up.
He’s greeted with dull blue eyes staring down at him in joy. They belong to a large, brick shithouse of a man with a leather jacket and pants on, a goggles around his head, and a bandoiler slung around his bare chest.
Neito just stares.
“Sorry! Just- We didn’t think we’d see you here anytime soon!”
“BANJO! STOP TERRORIZING HIM!”
…
“Who the Hell are you people,”
“Apologies,” A somehow even gruffer voice speaks out. From the smoke comes a man frighteningly like Bakugo, with a jagged, forked scar across his face between his eyes, running down both of his cheeks and starting at the top left of his forehead. His piercing brown eyes stare Neito down from above the cowl that made up his outfit.
“...Where am I???” Neito asks quietly, looking around. This didn’t look anything like… Like whatever place he saw Ragdoll in. Looking down at his hand, the seafoam green from the Quirk aura is still there.
“This is One For All,” It takes several seconds for Neito’s brain to catch up to the fact he said One For All, and not All For One. “All For One had a brother, named Yoichi, who had this Quirk when they were born. He managed to pass it down generation to generation, with our spirits inhabiting it once we passed. One For All is currently Izuku Midoriya’s Quirk.”
“...T-That… T-That’s why his Quirk went haywire. It was one of yours, r-right?” Neito looks between the two men standing over him. The brown-eyed one didn’t respond, but Banjo just looks half-shocked, half-impressed.
“Man, he figured that out quick!” He chuckles. The man next to him narrows his eyes, and Neito just continues staring up. For once, All For One isn't pulsating in his veins like it’s alive anymore.
“We saw what happened,” He starts. “You took his Quirk and killed him with it.”
Neito’s heart stops when he very, very quickly realizes that he’s surrounded.
“Kudo- Stop intimidating him-” A feminine voice behind him speaks up. “-It wasn’t his fault! The entire point of this is to help him deal with this-!”
“-Just so that demon can crawl out of his skin?!” Kudo barks, voice lilting as he snaps at whoever was behind him. It falls silent, before Kudo closes his eyes, and exhales heavily, before staring Neito down again. “The rest of the vestiges have decided that they’re going to use what limited time you have in this space to help you control All For One while you’re still it’s host.”
“There’s several ways we can deal with this.” Another adds pragmatically. Kudo just scoffs.
“Yeah, sure.”
Whatever realm they’re in starts fading away to blurriness, and Neito can see Kudo’s eyes widen slightly as he realizes what’s happening- until’
–
*BEEEEEEP*
“-What happened-?”
“-I don’t know! His ribs started breaking when the cancellers failed-!”
“-Start chest compressions-”
“-He already has a punctured lung-!”
“-Fuck, okay, we’re gonna have to do a thoracotomy-”
“-Oxi’s at 67, that’s not good-!”
“-WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO HIM-?!”’
…
‘Mom?’
–
He doesn’t see the One For All vestiges again after that. At least, not fully, or together again.
Neito does here whispers in his head, and vague silhouettes of them in his dreams. They tell him what they found was useful in controlling their own Quirks, and- ‘Well, most of them-’ keep assuring him that he was, in fact, a hero, even with All For One coursing through his veins, and stuck inside of his mind.
Neito certainly didn’t feel like one.
It makes him ill whenever they say that.
–
All For One doesn’t have coherent thoughts.
He’s sure that it’s not the monster that was the original Shigaraki- ‘That was his original name,’ Neito thinks bitterly- but more so the Quirk itself. Like how Copy changed from the intrinsic pull he could feel when copying another Quirk, to whatever Quirk he had taken the form of. Like how Yanagi’s Poltergeist was a sixth sense that was nothing short of just godlike, or how Tetsutetsu’s Steel made him feel like he wasn’t bound by basic human strength anymore.
All For One is a horrible, creeping sensation of want and need that begs and urges. There’s electric screams in his spine that makes him feel almost addicted to taking Quirks from their owners, even though he’s only done it once to the original host. Whenever Hound Dog comes in to talk, all he can feel is the sensation of All For One yearning to steal the orange, wispy aura around the hulking man that made up his Quirk, to become a snarling animal nothing short of a folktale monsters that kills and maims for more fuel.
Neito makes the mistake of telling Hound Dog this.
He doesn’t look surprised in the slightest. What is surprising is that he keeps showing up afterwards anyways, nowhere near on guard.
Neito’s starting to think Hound Dog is either suicidal, or just plain stupid.
–
There’s an HPSC representative in front of Neito who’s yammering on about some shit he can’t bring himself to be arsed about.
He’s pretty sure they’re yelling at him, by the way Nurse Joy is standing off to the side apprehensively. She tries shutting it down, but Neito’s pretty sure they go off on a tangent about her, making her shut down, before rounding back to Neito.
They say something about how he’s their most valuable asset, and they can’t afford to have him like this.
“-Your training will start next week. Mandatory-”
Neito’s eyes flash open, and the HPSC rep gives a sick, condescending smile; they knew they had him paying attention now. All For One rises slowly in his chest like a kelpie standing up out of the water slowly. Pin pricks along Neito’s spin form, and he shifts uncomfortably as he imagine the reps face getting split apart, screaming and wailing in agony as they get torn to pieces bit by bit-
The door slams open, and a massive, crimson aura stalks in.
It’s Vlad King, Neito realizes.
He’s in his Hero outfit, glaring daggers at the HPSC rep like he’s two seconds away from twisting their head off their pathetic shoulders. Nezu is sitting on his shoulders with him, not even smiling.
“I suggest you leave.” Vlad grumbles slowly, and Neito can see the way the crimson aura of his Quirk around him flares violently, coagulating and pulsating with his heartbeat. The HPSC rep scoffs, before they meet Nezu’s beady, black eyes, and unflinching flat frown. Surprisingly, they very audibly swallow their pride, and leave out the door with their metaphorical tail between their legs.
Vlad watches them leave down the hall out of sight, before turning to Neito, face softening immediately. Neito’s lungs aren’t working anymore, and thinks back to what led him here in the first place. He doesn’t want to think about what Vlad saw, and feels even worse about how he might’ve felt seeing Neito just…
His teacher sits down by his bedside slowly, face looking much more relieved, as Nezu hops down onto Neito’s bedside with his signature smile, though Neito can tell it’s not the usual one plastered on his face; it is genuine and heartfelt, surprisingly.
Nezu’s Quirk is a grey aura that outlines him, fading to black and white checkered tiles like a chess board at the very core around his silhouette. Neito just blinks at him, eyes still adjusting as Nurse Joy sighs heavily in relief and exhaustion before getting back to work.
“A lot has happened in your absence, Mister Monoma!” He starts cordially. Neito just blinks “We’ve spent the last couple of months hunting down and apprehending those associated with All For One-”
…
‘-What-’
…
“Given that you had his Quirk, your time in hospital here let us observe some things we naturally wouldn’t have been able to, otherwise.” Nezu’s smile drops suddenly. “I want to make it very clear that we were not experimenting on your body. At all. These were simply observations. You… For a time, there was a lot going on where you seemed to be having lucid dreams, and translating them into the real world.”
Neito’s soul drops.
“We figured they may have just been hallucinations, until you mentioned something about a previous holder of One For All, and Midoriya having manifested a similar Quirk. After that, we realized many of the other things you had been talking about in your sleep had similar truths in them.”
…
‘...Oh-’
…
“While most of his associates have been rounded, the darker parts of his network he held closer have yet to be found just yet.”
…
“...M-My classmates. A-Are they-”
“I can assure you, they’re just fine.” Kan affirms quickly, leaning forward. Neito releases a breath he didn’t realize he had been holding. It feels like thousands of pounds of weight just got lifted off of his shoulders, even if there was still an insurmountable amount of weight left. “I don’t like the fact that they’ve been required to be out on the field in the midst of all this, but… Lord knows, they’re just as stubborn as you.”
Neito almost smiles. He doesn’t show it, but… The burning gives way to some light, floaty sensation in his chest.
“That also leads me to my next point; Your parents would like to visit you, now that you’re awake.”
Once again, his lungs no longer cooperate, seized in too much dread to make a sound.
“They have been allowed to visit when you were comatose, though restrictions had to be enacted once you started having those night terrors inducted by All For One.”
Neito doesn’t respond.
“As for the HPSC; they, hopefully, won’t be much of a problem anymore.”
A new voice enters, and Neito turns to see a woman standing in the door. She had dark purple hair, almost black, white grey eyes, a bright purple blouse and grey pencil skirt. She quickly finishes writing on a clipboard before looking up to meet Neito’s eyes, offering a small smile.
“Ah! There you are!” Nezu chirps. “Monoma, this is Miss Pauling, an international associate with the WHA. Given how the HPSC are… handling things, the international community in the WHA had decided to intervene after the information being withheld had been leaked.”
Neito’s been blinking a lot, and he does it again. Maybe it’s because his brain is so fried that he doesn’t know what else to do, or because he’s trying to hide from the Quirk auras around everybody.
Thankfully, Miss Pauling doesn’t try to shake his hand; and, frankly, he doesn’t know what would happen if he did so much as touch another person with All For One acting the way it has been.
“The WHA has almost full control over your case, for better or for worse,” Miss Pauling mutters. Neito just nods. ‘My case- Right, that’s all I am-’ “It’s a bureaucratic mess right now, but the general of it is: The HPSC can’t do anything to you or regarding you unless they have the explicit permission of the WHA, especially their humanitarian division. There’s a whole lot of conflicting interests, but you’re not going to get treated like a child soldier anymore. Neither are your classmates.”
They continue to talk: about the future, how they’re trying to help Neito, and a whole variety of other things happening right now in the outside world that he can’t even begin to process before he lapses back into dissociation.
–
…
“...M-Mom?”
Neito didn’t think he’d ever get held again.
Her touch is so paralyzing, Neito can’t react in time to push her away out of genuine fear he might kill her.
All For One doesn’t react; it stays silent, numb, not so much observing as it was just staring. Neito didn’t like being treated like glass, but he couldn’t help the way his mother held him like he was the most precious thing in this world. Like he might disappear if she lets go. Like she didn’t know what kind of demon had just been calling Neito’s body home.
She survives the visit, and Neito survives his own thoughts later that night.
–
‘Neito sees Kudo again, in the smoky haze.
He looks mildly impressed.’
–
“You have a phone call!” Nurse Joy chirps one day. Neito receives the- His phone, hands shaky from exhaustion as he’d just woken up. Nurse Joy leaves the room quietly to give him space, taking the EKG machine with her. Neito sighs as he holds it up, only to see two ruby red irises staring back at him from a fish lens.
“Mister Phantom Thief!”
Neito blinks, before genuine fear grips his core. All For One sends a spike of interest along his spine.
“E-Eri?” He asks groggily, blinking. “W-What’s wrong?” Eri just cocks her head to the side, her giant, overjoyed smile turning into a sall frown as she cocks her head to the side.
“Nothing? I was just worried about you! Usually you show up to babysit me during your breaks, but you haven’t shown up the last few months!” Eri chirps. Neito feels his throat constricting again as the itching and burning around the holes in his palms makes itself very much known. “Izu said you could use someone like me because your Quirk is acting weird!”
Neito just blinks, before he closes his eyes, exhaling as his shoulder relaxes forcefully.
“Yeah. It’s… It’s scary, Eri.” Neito says quietly. “I’ve seen a lot of things I shouldn’t… I can’t even control it most days…” He pauses. “I-I’m… I’m sure you’ve dealt with worse.” Eri just shakes her head, smile coming back.
“My Quirk was scary, too!” She beams. “Izu helped me control it! At first, it was just gloves made by Miss Hatsume until I got comfortable with touch! Him and Aizawa wanted me to try practicing on lizards to help them grow their tails back, but I didn’t want to hurt them… I practiced on their tails first before helping them grow back, and if you do it enough times, it doesn’t really become that scary!”
Neito blinks at her, eyes still soft, but a small frown pulling at his mouth.
He highly, highly doubts killing over and over again will ever become less haunting, become any easier. If they do, then he’s not sure what he’ll do with himself. Except keep getting back up, if nothing but his mother.
Thinking about his classmates made him ill. Neito doesn’t remember much about when Kuroiro came to see him, but he doesn’t want to imagine the rest of their reactions. What Vlad King is actually feeling, deep down, whenever he lays eyes on him.
Neito looks back at Eri, at the hope and light in her eyes, and sighs, before a small smile tugs at the corner of his lips.
“Thank you,” he croaks. “I needed to hear that… I’ll… The doctors and the Quirk specialists will see what they can do…”
“It’s okay!” Eri chirps, face becoming blurry as she readjusts the phone she’s holding. “It’s only fair that I can be your Hero back!”
…
“...What?”
“When you copied my Quirk, and you had a horn grow on your head as well, and you explained that my Quirk has to build up the- the- Whatever stuff it uses to work, it- it made me less scared of it because I knew what it did now, and you were okay when you copied it!”
He continues to stare. He remembers it- partially. It was… It was right before…
Neito feel his smile come back, and it doesn’t stop growing, and he starts laughing quietly. It feels weird on his face, but it stays nonetheless.
–
‘...
“Oh…
It’s this dream again…
Don’t touch the lights," Neito reminds himself. He’s back in the Quirk Aura thing again- he’s not sure what to call it. The water’s colder, somehow. There’s a Quirk Aura in front of him, deep black with red veins coursing through it like lava. The silhouette of the woman it belonged to is obscured, unidentifiable.
Suddenly, a tendril shoots out, and graces his skin.’
–
He wakes up again, several weeks later.
“What happened?” Neito croaks, entire midsection horribly sore beyond belief. It’s wrapped in bloodied bandages, sensors all over his chest, and limbs numb from anesthetic. Nurse Joy looks like a wreck; she’s barely gotten any sleep, and she moves with a shaky, almost practiced motion.
Her bright blue eyes look down at Neito, not with fear or disgust or pity, but silent sorrow.
“After your facetime with Eri, that night when you fell asleep… Something happened with All For One. Somehow, you gained a Quirk called ‘Rivet Stab,’... You… You impaled yourself on the end of one of the tendrils, and started seizing soon afterward…”
Neito’s brain catches up eventually, and he feels his core ice over, esophagus constricting painfully as he remembers what happened.
“The entire room got wrecked- Nobody died,” She placates quickly, hands up as she frowns. “I was… Nearby when it happened.”
“Oh,” Is all Neito is able to muster.
–
“They want to go ahead with the removal.”
“What?!”
Miss Pauling only grimaces more, posture tight.
“The HPSC is asking the WHA delegates here if they can approve the use of the Quirk Erasing Solution they obtained from the Shie Hassaikai to see if they can erase All For One.” She reiterates. Nezu’s face is completely unreadable; Kan looks downright mortified, jaw hanging before he closes it, stoning his face as he shakes his head.
“How do we know they’re being truthful, and not setting up a front to turn Monoma into their own weapon?” Nezu asks flatly, tail stiff behind him. Miss Pauling only sighs as Neito feels his stomach flip.
“The WHA isn’t letting Monoma out of their sights during this. We’ll have international heroes supervising the entire process, and they’re not allowed to do it in one of their private facilities. Everything is assured to be as transparent as possible, and if the HPSC tries backtracking anything or obscuring any part of the process, then we’ll pull the plug and Monoma will return right back to here.”
Silence settles back over them again.
“I’ll do it.”
All three of their heads snap over to him.
“What?” Kan whispers, aghast.
“It’s my only chance I have to escape this… please,” Neito begs. He feels disgusting, and he feels All For One begin churning even doing so- Whether at the realization it’s existence will be ended, or Neito’s patheticness, or both, he doesn’t know. “...I just want this to be over.” Neito’s voice breaks as he trails off.
Kan continues to stare, face so, so horribly conflicted, a war in of itself. He already made the mistake of letting his student get roped into being possessed by this demon’s Quirk under the guise of heroism. He’s not letting the HPSC get their hands on him- On any of his students.
Yet, he still failed. Every night it kept him up. Every time he broke his body to keep innocents safe, his fellow heroes, his students; it didn’t erase what he allowed.
He can’t let Neito get hurt even more like this.
…
‘How else are we supposed to deal with this?’
He looks to Nezu standing on his pedestal next to him, and they both share a look.
The right decision was to not let this happen in the first place. There is no right decision now. Only one that can prevent the worst from becoming a reality.
“His parents have already signed consent. Both of your words are final in this. It’s entirely up to both of you.” Miss Pauling affirms.
“...We’ll go ahead with it,” Nezu says finally. Kan keeps his eyes locked on Miss Pauling.
Neito lets out a shaky breath, entire body pulsating in pain.
“It’s already planned for March 3rd, so two weeks from today.”
“That… That's the same day as the Jaku Hospital Raid. And the Gunga Villa Raid- Pauling-”
“-I will personally oversee the procedure, Kan.” Kan looks over to the principal, staring up at him, no longer blank, but steadfast. “Your other students need you just as much. I will be right by Neito’s side the entire time. You have my word.”
Kan looks between all three of them. He sighs heavily, eventually, the weight on his shoulders finally crushing what little air he had left inside his lungs.
“...It’s free to go ahead.”
–
Neito’s back in the vault again.
There’s a mist wrapping around his form, where the Rivet Stab tendril had pierced through his midsection.
He also gets a great look at all the vestiges. Neito’s eyes widen when he sees All Might’s wispy, golden form floating inside along with the other seven.
Now that he has a better look at Kudo, he looks awfully like Bakugo. Their stare is all too similar, too. Like they know Neito isn’t enough.
Seven- Nana, he learns- Helps him to his feet, stabilizing him.
“It’s okay,” She comforts, holding him close. Neito squirms under the touch, skin on fire from the contact. He feels All For One starting to surge, tearing inside of him violently. Neito feels the urge to scream as he tries to pull away. Maybe Nana’s touch is the only thing grounding right now, but the last thing he wants to do is to get her hurt by holding a literal timebomb.
All he remembers is going under, and from the look on the vestige’s faces, they also saw. Somehow.
They lapse into silence as All For One glows bright purple and dark crimson under his skin, Nana managing to get him to control it long enough to where it won’t lash out and try to kill him like it did last time.
Eventually, the silence gets broken.
Not by Neito screaming.
Not by one of Kudo’s imperious remarks.
Not by Neito waking up again.
It’s a new voice this time.
“So… You’re the one who killed sensei.”
–
BREAKING NEWS:
“This has happened, quite literally, minutes ago. An explosion ripped through Jaku City Hospital, after a task force of Heroes and police had entered the premises on account of a warrant. It’s unknown, currently, how many casualties there are. Several tremors have ripped through the city, with the hospital as it’s epicenter, causing mass destruction-”
“A major battle has erupted near Gunga Mountain- This also appears to be some kind of Hero-led raid, reportedly, against the PLF-”
“-What’s that-?”
“-This just in, uh-”
“-Another major tremor has erupted near Tatsuno- Also another hospital. Reports of this one are coming in late-”
“-As many as 150, many of them HPSC agents and advisors, feared dead-”
“-What appears to be a villain moving at unbelievable speeds-!”
“-Evacuations all along Nagoya to Osaka-”
“-Believed to be heading north of Kyoto-”
–
Izuku saw Neito in the vestige world.
“-It’s okay, Ninth-” She comforts as she helps him stand up, broken bones screaming in pain and only held together by the Blackwhip tendrils forming braces around his limbs. The entire vault world is pulsating as Shigaraki keeps standing there, attempting to attack, face split open to reveal All For One’s underneath.
Izuku gets dropped into the real world, and sees Neito pinning Shigaraki in the air.
Rivet Stab is impaling Shigaraki the same way it had Kacchan, only this time distorting his body as it attempts to regenerate. He can’t see Neito’s face from here, shadowed by overgrown, shaggy blonde hair, but there’s blood trailing down from it as Shigaraki retches.
Izuku blinks, before he shakes his head, and staggers forward again, limbs barely able to support himself anymore. The gentle whir of the news helicopter above is barely audible over the ringing in his ears.
Neito puts his hand on Shigaraki’s splitting face, and the grin only widens from All For One as a light envelopes both of them, and the Rivet Stab spikes suddenly snap off like tree limbs, and Neito drops like a ragdoll.
Shigaraki staggers back, body no longer regenerating as he screams wildly.
“This is your chance, Ninth,” Yoichi says softly in the back of his head. “Monoma’s done all he can.”
–
The last thing Neito sees are the clouds parting overhead from the force of Izuku’s punch, and Shigaraki disintegrating midair.
–
Neito’s back in the hospital- Or, at least, he thinks he is.
It’s not piercing white like before. It’s blue.
Briefly, he thinks he’s dead, before he hears another voice beside him.
“...Monoma?”
Neito can’t crane his neck- He is in extraordinary pain right now.
He coughs, and hopes it’s enough of a response.
“...You… You had All For One…”
‘...Oh…
…Right,’
“...Not anymore,” Neito chokes out. He can’t tell if he’s floating or drowning.
Izuku has the audacity to laugh.
“...You saved me,”
…
“...What?”
“...You-... You giving him All For One directly like that- I-It overloaded him in the moment, a-a-and I-I-I-I-” Izuku chokes on his breath, and his heart monitor begins spiralling out of control.
–
Neito learns a lot, afterwards.
All his classmates made it, including 1-A. Midnight did not, nor did 18 other Pro Heroes. 16,929 PLF members and other villains were captured. The exact death toll of Jaku hasn’t been determined yet, because so many people were turned to dust and their remains couldn’t be found.
The hospital the HPSC had relegated to performing the erasing procedure was already evacuated a day beforehand. The moment the Quirk Erasing Solution touched All For One, it gathered everything it could, and annihilated the room and the surrounding floors. Nezu was killed by HPSC guards in the ensuing pandemondium.
The HPSC itself had been completely folded by the WHA. Whatever survivors were left of it’s governing body had all been arrested and tried in international court. The WHA had obtained control of Japan’s Heroics, while the National Diet got ran through international court itself to cut off the corruption and reform it.
Tartarus had an attempted break in. The only one who made it out alive was Tsutsumi Kaina, someone the WHA had already believed was wrongfully incriminated. Once the break-in happened, the kill systems inside activated, and flooded the entire place with nerve gas. Kaina barely escaped alive.
Neito was also lucky to be alive.
They told him he broke damn near everything in his body.
But All For One is gone now.
He was free.
And so, so exhausted.
Him and Izuku don’t speak much. They both have waking nightmares, and severe PTSD- ‘“They’re children, for God’s sake-!” Nurse Joy shouts-’ but they’re alive, and so are their friends and loved ones. Even if they didn’t come back whole, they had something to come back to.
1-A and 1-B aren’t allowed to visit; they’re too busy aiding recovery efforts, and running U.A as a shelter for the Red Cross and other humanitarian aid. They do send lots and lots of letters, though, to keep them occupied.
Katsuki and Shoto visit both of them, seeing as both the other boys were laid up the same way Neito and Izuku were. For once, Katsuki doesn’t antagonize him.
“Good job… On not being a fucking loser for once… You actually saved us.” Katsuki growls as he stalks out the room, half his face wrapped in bandages.
Neito smiles again.
–
…
“...I talked to Tenko, after I killed Shigaraki…”
Neito doesn’t even say anything.
“...T-The boy who u-used to be a Shimura… Before All For One got his hands on him… H-He’s with his family now…”
…
He feels a bit lighter, now.
–
“What do we do?” Izuku asks one day. Neito can finally crane his neck to look at him.
“What do you mean?”
Izuku shifts uncomfortably, frowning up at the ceiling.
“I’m just… Everything that happened, I-... I don’t know what to do with my life, now… One For All’s gone, and… I-I feel like I-I c-can’t be normal now…”
…
“...I don’t think we were ever really normal,” Neito muses. Izuku turns to stare at him. “We were Heroes-in-training, there was nothing really normal about our days…”
“And then we got packed onto a bus and sent into war.” Izuku mutters, surprisingly bitter. “But… I-I guess what happened wasn’t our fault… We just should’ve never had to do that.”
“Yeah…” Neito agrees flatly.
“...I just want to see my friends again,” Izuku chokes out, swallowing thickly.
…
“...You have me,”
“...What?”
“I mean,” Neito glances away, a smirk crawling up his face. God, it feels weird, but now he can’t help himself- “Obviously, I don’t know why someone like you would associate yourself with such a lower class, but you’re not alone here at all.”
Izuku stares at him like he’s crazy, tears still in his eyes, before he huffs, trying not to smile.
“Y-Yeah,” He giggles out eventually, unable to clear his eyes because of the braces his arms are in. “I-I g-guess I-I do.”